By BARON DAGMAR OEGG

Snakes are a natural component of a balanced ecosystem. Depending on the species, they may eat insects, frogs and toads, baby birds and eggs, small fruits, small mammals, and smaller snakes. Most species of snakes are not venomous, and all snakes will avoid humans whenever possible. They can also help keep down mice and rats around the homestead. In short, they are good to have around, and should be tolerated or even encouraged.

There are, however, a few species of snake that are very poisonous, and whose presence around the homestead you are wise to discourage. You might also like to identify your local snakes, either to determine whether they are venomous or just to know what species you have around. In either case, it is essential to know how to properly capture and handle a snake. Should you choose to do so, the following advice might be helpful, but may not be sufficient. Always take the precautions described, use your head, and find out if there is an amateur herpatologist in your area. There are probably several if there are any snakes around, and like many hobbyists, you can generally find one who would love to show you firsthand what is described here in print. As with any of Farming For Artist's advice, use it at your own risk.

Snake Habitat

The area around your home is likely a good source of food for a snake. Insects are drawn to your garden, your lights, your pets, and you; mice, rats or other small animals may scavenge from your waste, surplus or stored food. You may feed and water wild birds, have a small pond, collect rainwater. Stacks of firewood and building materials and compost and brush piles offer home sites for every taste and fancy. Face it, you're living in a snake Shangri-La.

If you want to keep snakes away from your home, the easiest and most effective way is to eliminate their favorite nesting sites. Keep your yard mowed, and keep weeds and grass down in those hard-to-reach places under trees, along fences and walls, and around that old Mustang your boyfriend has up on blocks in the yard. Keep fenceposts or building materials stored at least a foot off the ground. Keep your compost percolating, and make sure there isn't uncovered, rotting food that attract other animals that will, in turn, attract snakes. (A pit viper, which can "see" heat through small pits below its nostrils, can also be attracted to a compost pile because of the heat it produces.) A large snake can live in a small space; for example, a four- to six-foot snake can choose to sleep coiled around a tree stump with a six-inch span of grass grown up around it.

But before you go tearing up snake habitats, you'd better know what to do if you come across one. Get yourself a field guide and study the snakes that are in your area, or visit a good snake identification website (a couple are listed at the end of this article). Then all you need is the proper stick.

A Snake Stick

A good snake stick is prized by amateur herpatologists and snake-hunters. It can make the difference between death or extreme pain on the one hand and a subdued and helpless snake on the other. It is a tool that is found more than it is made.

What you need is a good straight stick around six feet long with a fork at one end. The forking branches should be cut off close to the stick, closer than you think, leaving only about an inch of the "v" formed by the forking branches. Trim off all other branches very close to the stick so they will not catch on anything.

Now hold the stick about two feet from the butt end. Ideally, this will be the center of the stick's gravity – that is, the stick will be balanced at this point. Close your eyes and hold the stick loosely in your grip. Does the front want to tip up or down? If it tips up, shift your grip back along the stick a bit and try again. If it tips down, shift your grip forward.

When you find the center of gravity, examine your gripping position in relation to the stick's length. Balance is essential here, so you will be holding your snake stick at this balancing point. If the stick's center of gravity is substantially less than 1/3 of the distance from the butt end, your reaction time to a snake's actions will be longer, as you will have less leverage when trying to raise or lower your stick. If it is further up the length of the stick, you probably have plenty of leverage, but your grip is getting closer to the snake. Now, a snake can strike at a distance of 1/2 to 2/3 of its body length. This means that for a six-foot snake to strike and miss you, you need to be four feet away from it. Less than four feet and she gets a mouthful of you. You do the math. If necessary, find a better stick.

This stick will be used for two things: Finding the snake and pinning it down. To find your snake, use the stick to rustle through potential nesting places, passing your stick very thoroughly over the entire area, as a snake may hear or even see you, but choose to stay where it is unless you actually make contact. As you approach a nesting site and prepare to investigate it, keep one thing in mind: A snake would rather head towards you than away from you, even if that means coming out in the open. Even if you are trying to catch a snake, you want it to be heading away from you. Like any wild animal, snakes do not take kindly to being cornered. Use the length of your snake stick to keep a good distance from your target area, and make sure that there is a path away from you that the snake can take. It is a good idea also to carry a shovel with you and keep it close at hand. If you pin a snake down and determine that it is a venomous snake, you can kill it with the shovel. You might also bring a camera (point-and-shoot) to take a picture for help identifying a freed snake later.

As you search, be on the lookout for signs of a snake's presence in the area. Like other wildlife, snakes move through their environment along preferred routes, and create subtle paths with their movements. You may see a narrow band of disturbed grass that might be a snake's trail. You may also see a larger disturbed space that could be a snake's nesting site. If you see either of these things, note them. You may not see a snake here now, but you can return to the site to search again later.

To flush a snake (or any animal) out of a hole, do not try to insert your snake stick. Fill the hole with water using a hose and do not stand too close by. Whatever is in the hole will hold its breath and come out.

Making Contact

If and when you flush out a snake, prepare to use your snake stick in earnest. If the snake is traveling away from you, as it should be, try to pin the snake down just behind the head. This is effective because it does not take a lot of pressure to stop and hold a snake in this way; the weight of your stick should be sufficient to hold it down without the need to apply a great deal of force. When you pin it down, it will not struggle, but will wait for your next move. More specifically, it will wait for the chance to take advantage of an error.

This is the point where you kill, capture, or study the snake briefly and let it go. If you must kill it, pick up the shovel with your free hand and bring the digging point down hard to decapitate the snake.

If not, good for you, and better for the snake. If you have a camera with you, snap a photo. If you don't, study the snake's markings. Remember the colors and, if possible, which ones touch and which ones don't. Look at the snake's head. Is it triangulated, with jaws substantially wider than its neck, or are the jaws relatively streamlined with its body? Does it have a small indentation on each side of its head? If the answer to either of the latter two questions is yes, you may be dealing with a pit viper – a cottonmouth (water moccasin), rattlesnake or other venomous species with hinged jaws. These are dangerous snakes. If the answer to both questions is no, the snake is probably (probably!) not a poisonous species. That doesn't mean it can't bite you in self-defense, and that it won't hurt like mad if it does.

Remember that it is far safer to assume a snake is poisonous than to assume it is not. Many non-venomous snakes instinctively widen and flatten their head when they are threatened, which makes them easier to confuse with a pit viper. There are also venomous snakes that are not pit vipers and do not have hinged jaws or triangulated heads.

If the Snake Is Coiling Up

Backing away a bit is not a bad idea, but do not run. There is no time. Get ready to use your stick.

When a snake is headed towards you, it is probably planning on biting you. As previously mentioned, whether or not the bite is poisonous is important, but will not determine whether or not it hurts to get bitten. You will need to stop this snake in its tracks, but you cannot allow it to coil up in the process. A snake cannot, and will not, simply slide up to you and take a bite, unless you step (or nearly step) on it. Snakes coil up to form a launch pad from which to lunge out at you to sink its teeth in (Fig. 2). Most pit vipers coil up in a circular motion (and, incidentally, recent research on the cottonmouth suggests that snakes might almost always coil clockwise – though whether this is through the arrangement of organs in the body, some form of "handedness," or some other factor is still unknown). Rattlesnakes coil in an "S" shape, either as shown above or doubling back into the curve. Regardless of the exact action, if a snake is not moving directionally but is bunching its body up, it is preparing to strike.

Do not underestimate the importance of this coiling action. It is as valuable a signal as a bar brawler's tightened fist. By coiling up around itself, the snake creates a "foot" on which to stand and a vector along which to express its energy through the long, powerful muscle that is its entire body.

Given the level of danger, it is surprisingly simple to stop a snake from her preparations: Stop the snake from coiling up. Using your snake stick, draw its body out against its coiling action, effectively unraveling it as it tries to coil up (Fig. 3). Do this quickly but carefully and you will get "ahead" of the snake's action. When the snake is more or less straightened out but is still attempting to coil up is the best time to pin it with the fork of your stick.

If you want to pick a snake up, hold it just behind the head, where you pinned it. If you have a burlap bag handy, you could drop the snake into it and close the bag quickly. This might be useful if you would like not to kill the snake but want to remove it from your property; you could take it out along a country road or into the woods, drop the open bag and back away.

If You Are Bitten

Go to the hospital. Do not attempt to cut, or suck out, any venom; it is absorbed too quickly by your body's tissues, and you will not get it out. If possible, keep the bitten limb elevated. If you cannot get to a hospital quickly, cut off circulation from the limb with a torniquet.